Nobody were giving enough credit to Arsenal to fight back in hunt for top four finish this season, and Tottenham Hotspur were favourite to win North London derby. Spurs being one of the favourite to win Premier League given a reality check on Saturday afternoon as their North London more established neighbor defeated them 2-0.

Arsenal haven’t achieved success against Spurs in recent years, whether it’s their home Emirates Stadium or White Hart Lane. It took them three seasons and seven matches to register their victory over their emerging great rival.

Gunners success came with Shkodran Mustafi and Alexis Sanchez’s first-half goals. Tottenham failed to react in second-half and looked off pace with their top players comeback from injury. England’s top dog Harry Kane and Dele Alli didn’t play during international break and they were not up to the mark against Arsenal. Christian Eriksen hasn’t recovered from his euphoria after helping Denmark to qualify for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 as he scored a hat-trick in second leg of play-off against Ireland.

Arsenal capitalizes as Spurs failed to produce their quality play. Davinson Sanchez was adjudged to have fouled Alexis Sanchez and the resulted free-kick allowed Mustafi to head home from Ozil’s cross. Sanchez took another five minutes to give Gunners 2-0 lead as Alexandre Lacazette cutback for him to lash home from a close range.

Spurs needed three goals in front of Emirates crowd to downplay their team, which was fairly difficult for them. They tried with their half chances in second-half, but it wasn’t good enough to stretch their three seasons undefeated run against the Gunners.